M 4/3 lenses

[Gidders]

On my shot of a band recently posted in the gallery Sassan asked:

Originally Posted by sassan

May I ask you as to how do you like that 20mm 1.7 wide apparture 4/3pana? I was looking at that seriously for my Oly micro4/3 but not sure if I should invest for the very well reputed 25 F1.4 (And I haven't robbed the bank yet), Pana's Lumix 14mm F2.5, or go directly for the cheaper Olympus' prime lenses such as Olympus 17mm F2.8 M.Zuiko Lens (that is much cheaper) or longer 45mm F1.8 Zuiko. Any thoughts?

In my M4/3 arsenal for my GX7 I've got the Lumix 20mm f1.7 in question which came with the camera, the 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens & the Olympus 45mm f1.8. I've also had Lumix 14mm f2.5 on test - so thoughts....

I love the Lumix 20mm. Super shap even wide open, it's tiny on the camera making it great for street photography if you want to be unobtrusive & can certainly recommend it. How it compares with the Leica 25mm f1.4, which it's considerably cheaper, smaller & lighter than, or the Olympus 25mm f1.8 which is more comparable in price & size I don't know other than what I've read on slrgear.com etc

Again the Olympus 45mm is a great lens, super sharp light & compact. Mine was a bit of a used bargain at just over £100 in great condition

I tried the Lumix 14mm and found it was dissapointingly soft wide open and even stopped down to f3.5 didn't give noticable better results than the kit lens, so I sent it back & use the kit lens when I want wide angle. At some stage, if I expand my M4/3 gear, I expect I shall replace the kit lens with the 12-35mm f2.8 but I'm in no hurry to do that at the moment.

Hope that helps

[sassan]

Thanks Gidders for the reply.
That is exactly what I was afraid of, All being nice! But didn't come as surprise.
I think I will go first with one of the smallest ones (Pocketability factor), possibly Lumix 20mm. And the bigger Canon and other lenses have no problem to get adapted with varieties of ... > 4/3, cheap adapter rings.

[petrochemist]

The 17mm /2.8 is an excellent little lens for the price. I generally find it's fast enough to use indoors & small enough to always have with me (As is the 9mm BCL which is even smaller)

Pancake lenses make a lot of sence with the smaller µ4/3 bodies.